Burner valve with impinging means



g- 1968 c. K. LOVEJOY 3,397,029

BURNER VALVE WITH IMPINGING MEANS Filed March 1, 1966 FIG. 3 ,3O

FIG; 4'

INVENTOR. CHARLES K. LOVEJOY FIG. 5 BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent3,397,029 BURNER VALVE WITH IMPINGING MEANS Charles K. Lovejoy, Atlanta,Ga., assignor to Scripto, Inc., a corporation of Georgia Filed Mar. 1,1966, Ser. No. 530,846 Claims. (Cl. 431-152) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThe present invention is directed to a burner valve construction for gasfuel lighters that includes a flame height adjustment wheel having a gasescape orifice and a restricted evaporation orifice formed therein, saidorifices being in communication with each other, and an impinging meanspositioned within the gas escape orifice above the gas evaporationorifice so that when the manually operable, exteriorly positionedclosure member is opened the fuel that is being emitted from thereservoir is directed upwardly against the impinging means for defusingany droplets of liquid fuel that may be present, there'- byaccomplishing complete evaporation prior to emission from the exteriorextremity of the gas escape orifice.

Background of the invention Gas fueled lighters having a reservoir forcontaining liquid fuel having a low evaporation temperature atatmospheric pressure are well known in the art. For satisfactoryperformance it has been found that burner valves for such lighters mustprovide for the evaporation of all of the liquid fuel before it isemitted from the burner outlet for ignition. This is because failure todo so causes erratic ignition and burning of the fuel-air mixture, sinceany small droplets of liquid fuel remaining within the fuel mixtureemitted from the burner outlet will ignite with sudden violentexplosions within the major flame of the lighter.

Prior art burner valves have approached the solution of this problem bypositioning the evaporation zone at a considerable distance inwardly ofthe exterior portion of the burner outlet. With the use of the longvaporization zones of prior art gas fueled burner valves, however, asubstantial amount of liquid fuel could accumulate within thisvaporization zone when the burner outlet was closed and not used for aconsiderable period of time. On subsequent ignition, this caused a largeinitial flare-up which produced a hazardous condition.

This invention overcomes the problems associated with such prior artburner valves by providing a structure which can utilize an extremelyshort vaporization zone in which a stationary impingement surface isprovided to insure complete evaporation of the fuel spray being emittedfrom the wicking means prior to leaving the burner valve. Thiseliminates the initial flare-up normally encountered with previous gasfueled lighters during ignition.

Summary of the invention The burner valve structure of the presentinvention includes: (l) a burner stern adapted to be fitted into alighter casing and having a central passage therein communicating withthe reservoir which contains therein liquified gaseous fuel underpressure; (2) a flame height adjustment wheel that is r-otata'blymounted on the burner stem; (3) a wicking means carried on a supportinganvil positioned between the burner stem and the adjustment wheel sothat the flow of fuel may be regulated; (4) an orifice formed in theadjustment wheel that leads from a portion of the wick adjacent thelower end of said orifice to the atmosphere when open; (5) animpingement block positioned in said orifice; and (6) an exteriorlypositioned manually operable, valve closure member.

The impingement block is located so that the atomized spray releasedfrom the wicking means is directed against the bottom surface of saidblock to diffuse any droplets of liquid fuel and to allow sufficienttime for the vaporization of the diifused droplets of liquid fuelcontained in the atomized spray prior to its escape from the burnerstructure. Therefore, it can be seen that the fuel is atomized, diffusedand then completely evaporated to gaseous form before it reaches theexterior extremity of the burner.

These and other features of the present invention are more clearlyapparent upon consideration of the followingspecification andaccompanying drawings wherein like characters designate correspondingparts throughout and in which:

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned,elevational view of the upper portion of the gas fueled lighter of thepresent invention showing the burner valve in sealed position by virtueof the releasable exteriorly positioned closure member being seated onthe upper extremity of the burner structure;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the burner valve of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a partial top plan view of the burner valve of FIG. 2 showingthe location of the impingement block in the burner valve orifice;

FIG. 4 is a perspective View of the impingement block used in the burnervalve of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of theinvention incorporating a splined portion on the exterior portion of theadjustment wheel for receiving an outer ring having a stop member formedthereon; and,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, partial cross-sectional view of the burnerorifice of the burner valve showing the flow of gaseous fuel in solidarrows and the flow of atomized fuel in dashed arrows.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specificembodiment of the invention; however, the inventive concept disclosedherein is not limited thereto since the invention may be embodied inother equivalent forms.

Description of illustrative embodiment Specifically, the burner valve ofthe present invention is incorporated into a gas fueled lighterconstruction having a reservoir 10 and the valve assembly is generallydesignated by numeral 11. The valve assembly 11 includes a burner stem'12 having a central passage 14 extending therethrough along itslongitudinal centerline. A flame height adjustment wheel 19 is rotatablymounted on burner stem 12. Extending diametrically across the upper endof the burner stem 12 exteriorly of passage 14 is an anvil 15 having asubstantially square cross-section. The lower end of the burner stem 12which is opposite the end that supports anvil 15 is reduced in diameterto form an engaging portion 16 which is exteriorly threaded so that itmay be received in an appropriate aperture A in the upper wall W of thereservoir 10. Intermediate the ends of the burner stem 12 is anexteriorly threaded portion 18 which receives the adjustment wheel 19thereon in threaded engagement.

Intermediate the threaded portion 18 and the upper end of the burnerstem 12 is an annular recess 20 extending around the periphery of thestem 12 which is designed to receive an O-ring sealing means 21 therein.

The adjustment wheel 19 has a cavity 22 formed in its lower side toreceive the upper end of the burner stem 12. The lower inner portion ofthe central cavity 22 is threaded as at 24 to engage the threadedportion 18 of the burner stem 12. The relative position of theadjustment wheel 19 with respect to the anvil 15 may be easily regulatedsimply by turning the adjustment wheel in a selected rotationaldirection. The'O-ring sealing means 21 fitted within the annular recessengages the inner wall of the cavity 22 so that a leakproof seal isformed between the upper end of'the burner stem 12 and the adjustmentwheel 19,

A wick 32 extends between the terminal upper end of the central cavity22 and the upper surface 34 of the anvil, and its ends hang over eitherside of the anvil 15 and through the passage 14 to terminate asubstantial distance below the engaging portion 16 of the burner stem12. As is well known in the art, the wick 32 absorbs liquid fuel underpressure and transports this fuel to all parts of the wick 32 includingthat portion 35 extending between the terminal end 25 of the cavity 22and the upper surface 34 of the anvil 15.

On the upper exterior surface of the adjustment wheel 19 is an integralraised boss 26 having a gas escape orifice 28 formed therein, andcommunicating with the. cavity 22 through a restricted evaporationorifice 29 which has a diameter substantially smaller than the gasescape orifice 28. Carried within the gas escape orifice 28 is animpingement block 30 which is press fitted therein so as to bestationary. The impingement block 30, is shaped so as not to block theflow of completely vaporized fuel through the gas escape orifice 28. Inthe embodiment that is shown, the impingement block 30 is of triangularcrosssectional shape but it is understood that other cross-sectionalshaped impingement blocks 30 may be selected.

The restricted evaporation orifice 29 is of such diameter that theatomized spray emitting from the wick 32 is directed toward and impingesupon the btoto-m surface 31 of the impingement block 30. Therefore, anydroplets of liquid fuel in the atomized spray are thus diffused andcontained in the vaporization zone V of the burner orifice 28 definedbetween the bottom surface 31 of the impingement block 30 and therestricted evaporation orifice 29 sufficiently long to accomplishcomplete evaporation. The atomized spray of fuel moving through therestrictive evaporation orifice 29 is sufficiently forceful toaccomplish complete vaporization prior to movement past the sides of theimpingement block 30 where it leaves the gas escape orifice in gaseousform, This is best shown in FIG. 6 wherein the solid arrows designatethe flow of completely vaporized fuel out of the gas escape orifice 28and the dashed arrows designate the flow of the atomized fuel sprayagainst the bottom surface 31 of the block 30.

The amount of vaporized fuel supplied to the restricted evaporationorifice 29 is regulated by selected turning of the adjustment wheel 19with respect to the burner stem 12 so that the portion of the wick 32extending between the terminal end 25 of the cavity 22 and the uppersurface 34 of the anvil 15 is selectively compressed thereby regulatingthe compression of fibrous materials of the wick 32 so that the desiredflow of fuel therethrough is achieved. As is shown in FIG. 5, the flameheight adjustment wheel 19 may be of two piece construction having aninner portion 19a and an outer wheel or ring 19b, the inner portion 19abeing splined as at S to receive complementary grooves of the Wheel orring 19b so that the outer w'heel 19b engages the inner portion 19a forjoint rotary movement.

A stop 40 extends from one peripheral edgeof the wheel 19b so that itsmovement with respect to a complementary stop 41 (shown in dotted line)attached to the upper wall W may be limited. In this Way, the desiredmean flame height setting for the inner portion 19a may be firstestablished and then the wheel 19b positioned to move the stop 40 withrespect to the stop 41 to achieve maximum and minimum limits.

The fiow of gaseous fuel from the gas escape orifice 28 is selectivelysealed by gasket G carried in the manu- 4 ally operable cap C that isexteriorly positioned to overlie the boss 26.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations maybe made for the purpose of illustrating the invention without departingfrom the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as invention is:

1. In a gas fueled lighter having a reservoir containing a supply ofliquified gaseous fuel, a burner valve assembly including a flame heightadjustment wheel having a gas escape orifice and a restrictedevaporation orifice communicating with said gas escape orifice, supplymeans for supplying liquified fuel in said reservoir to said restrictedevaporation orifice, a manually operable, exteriorly positioned closuremember normally sealing the exterior extremity of said gas escapeorifice, and impingement means positioned within said gas escape orificeand above said gas evaporation orifice so that when said externallypositioned valve closure member is opened, the fuel that is emitted fromsaid supply means is directed upwardly against said impingement means todiffuse any droplets of liquid fuel thus accomplishing completeevaporation of the fuel prior to emission from the exterior extremity ofsaid gas escape orifice.

2. In a gas fueled lighter having a reservoir containing a supply ofliquified gaseous fuel, a burner valve assembly comprising wicksupporting means having a central aperture therein, a wicking meansdisposed over the upper surface of said wick supporting means and havinga terminal end extending through said central aperture intocommunication with the fuel contained in said reservoir, a flame heightadjustment wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting means and having acavity formed in its underside to receive the upper end of saidsupporting means therein so that the portion of the wicking meansdisposed on the upper surface of said wick supporting means is held incompressed relation therebetween, said adjustment wheel including a bossformed on its upper surface with a gas escape orifice formed thereinthat communicates with a gas evaporation orifice of reduced diameterwhich in turn communicates with said compressed wick portion in saidcavity, a manually operable, exteriorly positioned closure membernormally sealing the exterior extremity of said raised boss, animpingement block positioned within said gas escape orifice and abovethe gas evaporation orifice so that when said externally positionedvalve closure member is opened, the fuel that is emitted fromthecompressed wick portion is directed upwardly against said impingementblock to diffuse any droplets of liquid fuel thus accomplishing completeevaporation of fuel prior to emission from the exterior extrem ity ofsaid burner valve.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said impingement block isstationarily located in said gas escape orifice.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the cross-sectional area of saidimpingement block is less than the crosssectional area of said gasescape orifice.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said impingement block has atriangular cross-sectional shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,141,317 7/1964 Segawa 677.1

3,277,674 10/1966 Klein 67-7.1

3,327,504 6/1967 Smith 677.l

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,084,136 6/1954 France.

EDWARD 1. MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

